PS3 Home began on PS2
Until Sony realised what it had.
With everyone talking about PlayStation 3 Home this week, it's interesting to learn that the Second-Life-style online universe began life on Sony's previous console.
"It actually started life as PlayStation 2 and was going to be a way of creating a very simple 3D lobby system that could connect a bunch of games together," Sony Worldwide Studios boss Phil Harrison told MTV.
"And then when we started to explore it and realised the power of it, we thought actually this should be a platform initiative and this is something we should bring to all PlayStation 3 games and all PlayStation 3 users."
An impulse that seems to have been rewarded, with a lot of positive reaction since its unveiling at GDC last week.
Harrison was called upon to defend one idea though - that of watching videos on televisions screens within the Home world, which seemed to many to be a bit of a pointless abstraction. On the contrary, he says; it's an important convergence of community and content elements.
"We've actually experimented with this and it's quite compelling to be stood with your character in front of a video wall talking about what you're watching," Harrison argued.
"That combination of community and content merged together into the same experience is actually really quite fascinating. And we're not entirely sure where it's going to go yet, but it's a very positive start."
PS3 Home is expected to launch this October, with beta testing set to take place starting in April. Sony hopes the initial free download will be less than 500MB.